The invention relates to a telecommunication switching arrangement for switching digital data which are contained in data cells provided with a cell header, the arrangement comprising a crosspoint switch for switching cells from an input line of the switch to an output line of the switch, the switch being provided with a cell buffer memory for storing the cells to be switched through.
Such an arrangement can be used for fast packet switching techniques which are known under the name of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). The power of ATM is its ability to provide bandwidth on demand: different sources can have different bandwidth requirements.
Fast packet switching techniques clearly provide the flexibility for integration of mixed traffic streams, such as voice, data and video. Due to provision for the stochastic bandwidth requirements of some traffic sources, it is not so clear at first sight whether a reasonable degree of utilization of switching and transmission resources can be achieved. That is, the primary benefit of fast packet switching lies in its flexibility to serve different traffic streams. The invention has for its object to provide an ATM system that can serve different types of traffic streams and which also uses capacity more efficiently than known arrangements.